Like others who work in education, I was eager to see who President-elect Obama would select for his Education Secretary, and what that individual would represent. Obamaâ€™s selection of Chicago school superintendent Arne Duncan was announced yesterday.

I am heartened by the fact that Duncan represents a both-and approach to school reform, recognizing that both teacher improvement and social support for children outside of school will play a critical role in taking the US education system to a new level of excellence (we can hope, right?).

But Iâ€™m left with an important question: Will we see federal leadership for curricular reform? Peggy McIntosh recently pointed out to me that the central structure of the American education system (math, science, English, social studies, etc.) has remained unchanged since the 18th century. To be sure, approaches to these subjects are updated and the curriculum has certainly changed over time. Yet Iâ€™m also convinced from experience that the more things change the more they stay the same, and that the status quo reinforces traditional gender stereotypes (along with stereotypes about race and class).

For example, I noticed that my daughterâ€™s kindergarten teacher had divided the girlsâ€™ and boysâ€™ workbooks by color-coded baskets (red=girls, blue=boys: hm, at least it wasnâ€™t pink!). I notice when I pick my daughter up from her after-school program that the room is frequently segregated by gender and toys (girls playing with dolls while boys play with Legos).

No doubt youâ€™ve noticed that my examples point to classroom arrangements rather than classroom content, and you might think Iâ€™m being too nit-picky. After all, theyâ€™re just colored baskets, right? No way! Iâ€™m convinced that the classroom arrangements and curricular content reinforce each other (see my previous post where I mention a sex-stereotyping book series that my daughter discovered thanks to her first-grade teacher). It may be red baskets now, but when women still have to fight for equal pay for equal work (among other things), I want to be sure Iâ€™ve done my part to make a difference.

When I mentioned my concerns about the color-coded baskets during a conference, my daughterâ€™s kindergarten teacher was shocked to think that she might be perpetuating gender stereotyping. She gave me examples of ways she challenged the studentsâ€™ gender stereotyping in the classroom (talking about her own love of math, â€œrequiringâ€ girls to play in the block corner). The next morning the baskets were changed, with the kids finding their workbooks based upon the first initial of their last name.
Iâ€™m sure that wonâ€™t be the last conversation I have with a teacher about gender inequality in the classroom, but I hope that we can expect national leadership and fresh thinking about what goes on in the classroom. Any word on whether Duncan is a feminist? And GWP readers, have you taken any steps to make your sonsâ€™ or daughtersâ€™ classrooms more feminist learning environments?

Comments

Bob Lamm — December 18, 2008

For a very critical view of our new Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, see the piece by Alfie Kohn, "Beware School 'Reformers,'" in the Dec. 29, 2008 issue of The Nation. I believe that the link below should work. If not, if you go to the website for The Nation and search for Arne Duncan, the article will come up.

www.thenation.com/doc/20081229/kohn

Veronica — December 18, 2008

My husband has been in several conversations with Arne and his focus is on violence, retention, teacher education, etc. and doesn't have a feminist perspective but would say he has a progressive perspective. So, take that for what it is...I guess we'll see. I do have to say that he did allow Planned Parenthood into the schools for sex ed and 14% of babies in Chicago are born to teenage moms. So obviously he knows that girls education progress can be hampered by unplanned pregnancies.

Hubby would like to add that he's never seen Arne dismiss a woman's comment. His heart is in the right place.

Over the summer my daughter was in a soccer camp and one day she reported that girls played together and the boys were elsewhere. I spoke to the coach and he made a reasonable excuse (most of the girls knew each other already), but did acknowledge my concern.

Allison Kimmich — December 22, 2008

Thanks, Bob, for the link to the Nation article. I read it and have to say I agree that it would have been more interesting to see an educator as Education Secretary!

Allison Kimmich — December 22, 2008

Veronica, I am heartened by your husband's personal reports of interactions with Arne Duncan. As you say, we'll see!

[...] Our country needs this framework, and your â€œto doâ€ list is long. For example, Iâ€™ve blogged about my wish for some federal leadership on curricular reform, and I hope youâ€™ll take a look. [...]

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Girl w/ Pen, founded by Deborah Siegel, publicly and passionately dispels modern myths concerning gender, encouraging other feminist scholars, writers, and thinkers to do the same.
The views expressed in posts are those of the columnists and do not represent Girl w/ Pen at large.